Legal and General has sold off just over a million closed book policies to reinsurer Swiss Re.
The £650m deal will see ReAssure, Swiss Re’s UK closed book consolidator, take control of 1.1 million policies which include with-profit, unit-linked and savings products.
Swiss Re has made a number of significant plays in the UK life market since 2007, when Zurich transferred £3.7bn of annuities to the firm. The following year Swiss Re bought Barclays’ life business for £753m.
ReAssure chief executive Matt Cuhls says: “The UK closed book market is consolidating, and this deal allows us to do what we do best: integration, migration and the delivery of great customer service.”
Swiss Re also bought UK insurer Guardian Financial Services for £1.6bn in 2015. That deal has now been ‘successfully integrated’, Swiss Re said in its statement today.
Whilst this might be good business for L&G, the general service levels and appalling attitude from ReAssure is unlikely to be of benefit to the policy holders. Best of luck everyone but I believe it would probably be a good idea to start to look for a new home for your money.